Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Hello lovelies! It gives
me great pleasure today to host Bailey Baxter and her new book, “The Mirror of
Doom”! For other stops on her Goddess
Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the
images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift
Card. Also, come back daily to interact
with Bailey and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
exciting giveaway!

The Mirror of Doom

by Bailey Baxter

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GENRE: Middle Grade

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BLURB:

What
would you do if you got stuck in another world? 12-year-old Tim Hunter and his
two older siblings panicked. Just a little. (Can you blame them?)
Unfortunately, the only way they can return home is to steal a magic mirror
from an evil queen. Yes, that’s right. Evil! To make matters even worse, enemy
soldiers, horrible creatures called galrogs, and even a dragon will do anything
to stop them. Do they have what it takes to make it home alive? There’s one way
to find out. This fun, fantasy-adventure for middle-grade readers is available
on Amazon.com.

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GUEST POST:

What’s Keeping You From Pursuing Your Dreams?

Come
on… you know you have them. Deep down inside, you feel like there’s something
you were “made” to do. A purpose only YOU can fulfill.

But
things get in the way, don’t they?

One
of my dreams – my desire to be an author – goes way back to my childhood.

Oh,
I toyed with other career ideas – like being a nurse or a pirate. But I can’t
stand the sight of blood – and I never could get behind senseless pillaging –
so I kept going back to my true love.

Writing.

But
here’s the thing. I let my brain get in the way.

Back
in that day, self-publishing was not even an option. You had to go through
traditional publishers and agents. And the chance of your manuscript being
accepted was small.

Even
worse, I remember reading at the time that only 20% of authors could survive on
the money produced by their books. Just 20%!

That
meant I had an 80% chance of failure.

Those
odds were unacceptable to me. So, I put my dream of writing books on hold.

Like
a dutiful, responsible daughter, I followed my parents’ advice and studied
business and marketing in college. I took jobs supporting computers, working at
a bank, and managing an accounting office. But the whole time, I was
unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

I
even became a freelance copywriter, which allowed me to write for a living. And
it wasn’t enough.

A
dream is a dream.

Look,
I’m not going to say pursing your dreams will be easy. Frankly, it was quite
the opposite for me. I worked for more than 10 years (on and off) on my first
book, “The Mirror of Doom.” That meant I sacrificed my free time during lunch
hours, nights, and weekends to make it happen.

Was
it worth it?

Absolutely,
yes!

I
fulfilled a dream.

I
just want to encourage you. I don’t know what your dream is. I don’t know what
obstacles stand in your way. But take steps toward fulfilling it today.

It
doesn’t matter if all you can manage are baby steps. Just keep moving in the
right direction. And one day, you will see everything fall into place.

You, too, will see a dream
come true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT ONE:

Ron
started down the hallway toward me. “Timmy, give Kat her diary back, or I’ll
take it from you myself.”

He
would, too. But I wasn’t about to give him the chance.

I
turned and threw myself against that mysterious closed door, giving the glass
knob a big twist. It opened suddenly, and I found myself stumbling forward into
a dark room. Quickly regaining my balance, I shoved the door closed. It took a
bit of fumbling in the darkness, but I found the key and quickly turned it.

Locked.
And just in time, too.

The
doorknob jiggled.

“Timmy,
open this door,” Ron said.

“Nope.”

Ron’s
fist slammed into the other side of the door with a loud bang. “Open the door,
runt!”

“Go
away. I’ve got some reading to do.”

“Timmy!”
Kat practically screamed my name through the door. “If you even open my diary,
I will kill you. Do you understand?”

Oh,
I understood all right. But come on! Kat’s diary was usually guarded more
closely than Fort Knox. This could be my ONLY opportunity to see what’s inside.
I’d be crazy NOT to read it!

I
slid the little book out of my pocket and stretched out my other hand to feel
for a light switch — and froze, my heart pounding. I heard a noise. It sounded like
a footstep.

And
it seemed to come from inside the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Bailey
Baxter is the pen name of a somewhat successful copywriter who writes online
"junk mail” for health supplement companies. She's been writing stories
since childhood. In fact, when she was 12, Bailey wrote and illustrated tiny
books that she stapled together and passed to her friend during class. (She was
never caught.)

Bailey
grew up in Ellington, CT – a small town where cows outnumbered people 2 to 1.
She currently lives in Asheville, NC with a mischievous Shih-tzu named Lucy.
Fortunately, Asheville is weird - and proud of it - so it gives her plenty of
inspiration and plot ideas for new books.

Her
first book, The Mirror of Doom, was inspired by a certain pesky brother named
"Jimmy" and the childhood desire to find a wardrobe to a place like
Narnia.

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.